A Dinner Story

I am bored with my dinners. My palate is growing quite unenthusiastic at the same handful of nightly stir fries/sautees. One of the main reasons I get stuck in these ruts is because I can whip out my go-to dishes in 15 minutes.

Yesterday, I decided to step outside the box and try a recipe from the blogisphere-a tofu and veggie dish with South Carolina Golden Mustard Barbecue Sauce from The Fat FreeVegan Kitchen. I chose this one because I had most of the ingredients already. This is another reason I stick to what I know-I am really trying to be conscious of my spending lately and I can't justify buying $30 of ingredients that I will never use again for one dish. The verdict? RECIPE FAIL. Either I did something wrong or I just don't like South Carolina barbecue sauce. Frankly, it's probably the former. I think I simmered the sauce too long and the vinegary flavors concentrated too much. More than anything I hate that I wasted so much food (it makes a lot). The most devastating casualties included a big beautiful zucchini and a whole package of tofu. I tried to tell myself I would like the dish as cold salad, but alas, as it sits in my lunch bag, I know I am not eating it at work today. Oh how I hate being that wasteful! On the other hand, as Ganeen Roth said in the Women Food and God Workshop, "Throw it out or throw it in-either way it turns to waste." No need to spend my calories on something I don't love.

So, as a quick alternative, I grilled up a Trader Joe's Vegetable Masala Burger patty, topped it with Daiya Mozzarella, and ate it with lettuce, tomatoes, avacado, and onions. I chopped up a third of a big sweet potato I had and cooked it up with garlic and salt as a side.

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In the end, I had a delicious dinner afterall.

THE END